The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 634

Number 634

David Bowie

"China Girl"

(1983)

Genre: Alt Pop

Mr David Bowie who has now turned 60 this year [2007] has done it all, Number 1 Hits, Movies, Cartoons, a fashionaire, whatever, you name it.... Bowie has done it and with satisfaction one hopes.

David Bowie started in 1967 with the horrific ! song called "The laughing Gnome" (who our resident guest writer known as "Gazza Shackleton" affectionately loves this song ... Go Figure) and lots of other cheesy songs, Bowie, to the man who became one of the most revered Glam/Shock/Sci Fi performers of the 20th century including a modest (he would say) acting career.

After summing up his maverick tendencies on Scary Monsters, David Bowie aimed for the mainstream with Let's Dance. Hiring Chic bassist Nile Rodgers as a co-producer, Bowie created a stylish, synthesized post-disco dance music that was equally informed by classic soul and the emerging new romantic subgenre of new wave, which was ironically heavily inspired by Bowie himself. Let's Dance comes tearing out of the date, propulsed by the skittering "Modern Love," the seductively menacing "China Girl," and the brittle funk of the title track. All three songs became international hits, and for good reason -- they're catchy, accessible pop songs that have just enough of an alien edge to make them distinctive. However, that careful balance is quickly thrown off by a succession of pleasant but unremarkable plastic soul workouts. "Cat People" and a cover of Metro's "Criminal World" are relatively strong songs, but the remainder of the album indicates that Bowie was entering a songwriting slump. However, the three hits were enough to make the album a massive hit, and their power hasn't diminished over the years, even if the rest of the record sounds like an artifact. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Proof of Bowie's influence in culture..............

Bowie is also the subject of a Phish song bearing his name, found on the Junta album.

Strong Sad dresses as Bowie, specifically referencing the Aladdin Sane album cover, in the 2004 Homestar Runner Halloween Special.

Bowie's song "Ziggy Stardust" was featured in the PS2 game Guitar Hero, developed by Harmonix. A remix of "Everyone Says 'Hi'" was also featured on the earlier game, Amplitude, by the same developers.
Bowie recently announced that he will be a special guest on a future episode of SpongeBob SquarePants in 2007.
Bowie was featured in the red carpet scene near the beginning of the Stewie Griffin movie.
In the mid-1990s Rolling Stone magazine likened Argentine Rock en Español legend Gustavo Cerati, then lead singer of band Soda Stereo , to a Spanish-speaking version of David Bowie.
Similarly, the late Katsuhiko Nakagawa, musician and father of model S houko Nakagawa, was often referred to as "the Japanese David Bowie".
Bowie is featured in a song (named "Bowie") by New Zealand based folk/comedy band, The Flight of the Conchords.
The band The Brian Jonestown Massacre wrote a song called David Bowie I love you.
Bowie is name-checked in the lyrics to Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" ("From station to station/Back to Dusseldorf City/Meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie").
Red Hot Chili Peppers mention Station to Station in their song "Californica tion".
Bowie is referenced in Nina Hagen's song "New York, New York" (1985).
Bowie is mentioned in The Simpsons episode, "She of Little Faith" where Homer blows up the church. The townsfolk are arguing about where to get the funds for the church reconstruction, and Marge suggests, "Why don't we just write to David Bowie again?" and Rev. Lovejoy responds "God no, that man has done enough for this church already."
In Adam Sandler's movie Mr. Deeds the main character and several people on a helicopter sing part of Bowie's song, "Space Oddity".
Bowie's song "Let's Dance" was featured in Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS and the PS2 game Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA.
The band They Might Be Giants make reference to David Bowie in the opening verse of their song "Au Contraire" from the album The Spine.
The character Zachary in the 2005 French Quebec film C.R.A.Z.Y. lip-synched to Bowie's "Space Oddity" while made up as Aladdin Sane.
In an episode of Friends Joey sings some of the lyrics from "Space Oddity" to Phoebe whilst driving back from Las Vegas. On another occasion, it is sung by Chandler in front of a camera.
Bowie makes a guest appearance in the film Zoolander in which he judges an impromptu runway competition.
Singer Tori Amos released a song entitled, "Not David Bowie", on her 2006 boxset.
The 2006 British TV series Life On Mars takes its title from the Bowie song of the same name. The song features in the first episode, playing over the scene in which main character Sam Tyler discovers he has been transported back in time to 1973. Another character, Gene Hunt, refers to himself as "the Gene Genie", a reference to Bowie's "The Jean Genie", which appears in the soundtrack of another episode.The spin-off Ashes to Ashes is another take on a David Bowie song of the name song, starring Gene Hunt set in London in 1981.
In Douglas Adams' novel The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, he appears the following description:
"If you took one David Bowie, and attached another David Bowie onto the shoulders of the other David Bowie, and another two to the arms of the first David Bowie, you would have something that didn't exactly look like John Watson, but those who knew him would find him hauntingly familiar."
In an episode of The L Word, Angus sings "Changes" to Kit, played by Pam Grier.
Chicago-based rock band Veruca Salt have a song entitled "With David Bowie" which alludes to a form of teenage obsession with Bowie and his music.
Carlton, the main character in Eric Idle's novel The Road to Mars is a Bowie robot, modelled after the rock star of the late 20th Century.
Metal Gear Solid 3 makes reference to David Bowie. Snake's commanding officer in the Virtuous Mission speaks with a British accent, uses the codename "Major Tom". Snake also iniates communication with Major Tom upon contact with his landing point with the line "Can you hear me Major Tom?"
The Parliament-Funkadelic song, "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" references Bowie ("Then I was down south and I heard some funk with some main ingredients like Doobie Brothers, Blue Magic, David Bowie. It was cool.")
Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode #57 ("The Freshman") featured the Space Oddity song "Memory of a Free Festival", used as background music for a scene in Giles's home.
In Adam Sandler's movie The Wedding Singer, Drew Barrymore's character states that David Bowie is the coolest as the song "China Girl" plays in the background. Drew's company including Adam are glowing with affirmation.
Indie rock band, Built to Spill, references David Bowie in their song "Distopian Dream Girl", "My stephfather looks just like David Bowie, but he hates David Bowie. I think Bowie's cool, I think 'Lodger' rules, and my stepdad's a fool."
In the television series, Freaks and Geeks, an episode titled, "The Little Things," Ken Miller listens to the song "Fashion."
In the TV show NUMB3RS, when Larry takes off in the rocket, "Moonage Daydream" is playing in the background.
He has also had a guest appearance in the comedy Extras.
Two clips of Bowie appear in U2's video for their song "Window in the Skies", from the 2006 compilation album U218 Singles.
The Clap Your Hands Say Yeah song, "Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)" references Bowie ("You look like David Bowie, But you've nothing new to show me")
In a Family Guy episode, Stewie Griffin watches Carrot Scalp perform standup using a bow (as in a bow and arrow). One of the "jokes" he attempts with it is singing a note and then saying "Look, I'm David Bow-ie".
The song "Suffragette City" was featured on the game Driver Parallel Lines.
In the UK sci-fi Comedy Red Dwarf, the four main characters are attempting to escape a ship in a stolen space craft. An operator at Ground Control asks for the pilots' identification. The pilot (being the Cat) replies "Ground control, this is...er..." to which Dave Lister suggests "...Major Tom". The Operator then continues, "Ground Control to Major Tom", the opening lyric to Bowie's first hit song "Space Oddity".
The band The Blood Brothers made a cover of the song "Under Pressure" in 2006.
My Chemical Romance and The Used covered the song "Under Pressure" for the Boxing Day Tsunami disaster.

For Chic see Number 902

For Iggy Pop see Number 980

For U2 see Number 661

For more U2 visit Mellow Mix Vol 1 Number 129

For Red Hot Chili Peppers see Number 521

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Well, you see its like this...) and the Album ranked at (its just the 80's, it was really that bad)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 71.1 out of 108

David Bowie - China Girl (Video)
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